Survey of the Effects of Supervised vs Home-based Vestibular Rehabilitation in Patients with Unilateral Vestibular Hypofunction Based on VOR Gain

Document Type : Original article

Authors

1 Associated Professor. Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Biostatistics, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences,

3 university of social welfare and rehabilitation sciences

Abstract

Background and Aim: Patients with dysfunction in the vestibular system suffer from substantial balance problems, which severely restrain their normal daily activities. One of the main treatment methods for these patients is vestibular rehabilitation. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of vestibular rehabilitation program on VOR gain through the stimulation of different semicircular canals using vHIT.
Materials and Methods: The current cross-sectional study was performed on 42 patients with unilateral vestibular deficit. Half of the patients were randomly allocated to the home-based group who performed the vestibular rehabilitation program at home. The rest were assigned to the supervised group and received vestibular rehabilitation program under the supervision of a qualified clinician. The extents of VOR gain were compared both between groups and within groups, i.e. before and after vestibular rehabilitation program.
Results: Vestibular rehabilitation program enhanced the average VOR gain across both groups in the most semicircular canals (p < 0.05). Moreover, the supervised group, compared to the home-based group, showed higher VOR gain across the horizontal and posterior semicircular canals in the damaged side (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Performed by the patients at home, vestibular rehabilitation program could successfully reduce the symptoms of peripheral vestibular problems. However, this program was shown to be more efficient while performed under the supervision of an audiologist. A unique aspect of the present study is application of vHIT test for measuring the treatment efficacy of vestibular rehabilitation program.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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The Scientific Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
Volume 6, Issue 2
July and August 2017
Pages 19-26

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History

  • Receive Date: 13 February 2016
  • Revise Date: 29 April 2016
  • Accept Date: 24 May 2016
  • First Publish Date: 22 June 2017

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